CALL-BOX BOARD VOTES TO SPEND $8.75M

Move comes as bill to hand over administration — and large reserve — to SANDAG looms

The regional board that manages yellow roadside call boxes moved to spend nearly $9 million of its reserves Thursday, sparking charges that it’s squandering the money before an overhaul under way in Sacramento.

The San Diego Service Authority for Freeway Emergencies collects about $2.6 million a year in vehicle registration fees and has amassed a $13.4 million reserve — subjecting the agency to criticism that it’s collecting unneeded taxes for an outmoded program.

On Thursday, the call-box agency board voted 5-2 to devote $8.75 million to motorist aid projects in partnership with the San Diego Association of Governments, a regional transportation agency.

San Diego SAFE Executive Director Eddie Castoria said the projects would go far to help marooned motorists. A freeway video analytics program would place software behind more than 100 Caltrans cameras.

“What that software would do using fancy algorithms is determine when a vehicle is stopped in a way that meant it was disabled and then display that on the big screens at the transportation management center,” he said.

The four motorist aid projects are:

• $3 million to connect with Caltrans’ camera system, as Castoria described. SANDAG would take the lead.

• $3.025 million for five overhead electronic message signs providing traveler information and safety alerts to drivers. Caltrans identified 33 locations for new installations and has several signs that need to be upgraded.

• $600,000 to help pay for tow- and light-duty trucks to assist stranded motorists as part of a Freeway Service Patrol program.

• $325,000 for a data management system for the program.

San Diego SAFE has been the subject of a series of stories in The Watchdog questioning its ample funding and growing costs for everything from operations to marketing even as the use of call boxes dropped sharply.

A bill by Assemblymen Nathan Fletcher and Marty Block would hand administration of the program over to SANDAG and split $9.4 million of agency reserves among local governments for motorist aid.

“Today’s vote by the SAFE board is a blatant attempt to spend money as fast as possible before the reforms I’m fighting for are passed to protect taxpayers,” said Fletcher, an independent running for San Diego mayor. “I strongly urge SANDAG to reject the board’s attempt to sidestep the important reforms contained in the SAFE legislation.”

“I understand that a lot of people here, board members, are not happy about the legislation,” Zapf said. “But I don’t think elected officials should be making policy decisions in what appears to be out of spite.”

Santee Councilman John Minto, the board’s vice chairman, said he was offended by the accusations. He has said repeatedly that Zapf and San Diego City Councilman David Alvarez are seeking to undermine their colleagues to direct more reserves into the city of San Diego’s coffers.

“We’re not just trying to get rid of this money,” Minto said. “We have to go forward as if the legislation does not exist.”